Half measure of success

Sir: If government could meet our people halfway, we will be singing sweet songs like birds of paradise. I’m writing this piece from a beautiful vantage point. I have the exquisite privilege of spending time at one of the most luxurious landscapes in our country. The clean and breezy air of Independence Layout, Enugu, will make a city boy fall in love with hills and rocks. Nature seems to adorn the environment of this modern realism with scents of opulence. Or, perhaps, the vision of one of the greatest political leaders of our time was made to materialize in this dreamy experience.

I just finished having a telephone conversation with my good friend who called from Dublin, Ireland, where he is visiting his family. He amusingly expressed the tantalizing news that he is using the Wi-Fi connection on the bus he is travelling in to make the WhatsApp phone call. Now, imagine the image of a bus in our country and associate it with the notion of a Wi-Fi connection. That is if you can overcome the rough ride in our raggedy buses with rusted metals pointing out to draw your innocent blood.

The notable industriousness of the ordinary people in our society begs to be addressed. In my town of Umuoji, Anambra State, you can count on your fingers the number of families without a recognizable house wired with electricity and borehole water supply provided by the owner. In some instances, the mercy of these landlords runs over and they make these basic amenities available to their less opportune neighbours.

I was recently fantasizing about how magnificent the face of my town will look if the government will be benevolent enough to tar the roads to compliment the mansions lining the villages. I immediately awoke to the sad fact that such dreams could easily land one in the mad house. It has been only through the magnanimity of three noble men in my town that we are able to enjoy the comfort of smooth tarred roads. The recent overture by the state government to add another tarred road to court our votes during the election has stopped halfway through completion like an aborted pregnancy once they won.

The conundrum of our situation is that we have noble men and bad government. Our people are very charitable by every stretch of the definition. Since the people constitute the government, the bipolar personality of our society becomes incomprehensible. The desire by one person to spread his overflowing selfish tendency to sweep up for himself the wealth for uplifting social progress appears as an anathema. We have been walking the walk towards enlightenment since our independence but it seems like some evil forces are equally pursuing a counter course.